“  To  you  from  falling  hands 
we  throw  the  torch.” — 


jHemortal  Bap 


1919 


We  have  a  debt  to  those  who 
rest  today  in  Flanders  fields * 
Our  debt  is  to  the  living  in 
whose  behalf  they  died. 


Our  Debt 


S  MEMORIAL  DAY  approaches  who  does  not 
feel  the  terrible  responsibility  of  being  still  alive! 
Within  thirty  miles  of  Paris  there  are  three  mil¬ 
lion  graves.  Sixty  thousand  American  soldiers 
rest  in  F ranee.  Their  memory  is  a  sacred  heritage 
to  our  country.  In  the  heart  of  each  of  us  it  is 
a  spur  to  high  endeavor.  We  are  in  their  debt  for  oppor¬ 
tunity,  for  freedom,  for  life  itself.  How  can  we  honor  their 
memory  ? 

The  thin  p's  that  these  men  did  are  already  a  household 
story.  They  will  become  an  inspiration  to  future  generations 
of  Americans.  Year  after  year  their  graves  will  be  tenderly 
decked  with  flowers.  But  our  love,  our  gratitude,  our  devotion 
can  not  be  expressed  in  this  manner  alone.  We  are  trustees  of 
the  Cause  for  which  they  died.  It  is  by  helping  the  living  that 
we  can  most  truly  honor  our  dead. 

The  Record  of  French  Protestants 

Throughout  the  history  of  France  and  during  the  World 
War  no  group  of  people  endured  more  and  fought  harder  for 
democracy,  for  equality  of  opportunity  and  for  religious  free¬ 
dom  than  the  descendants  of  the  Huguenots.  Protestantism 
received  a  staggering  blow  from  the  German  invasion.  The 
700,000  Protestants  of  France  and  Belgium  served  heroically 
in  the  War;  but  they  suffered  grievously.  Of  a  thousand 
pastors,  one-half  were  mobilized  in  1914;  316  were  officially  cited 
for  valor;  100  ministers  and  theological  students  and  150 
ministers’  sons  gave  their  lives  for  France. 

One-eighth  of  their  churches,  including  many  of  the  richest 
and  most  influential,  were  under  fire  in  the  industrial  districts 
of  the  invaded  north.  Manv  of  these  were  robbed  and  damaged, 
and  some  were  totally  demolished.  Every  orife  of  the  Paris 
Protestant  churches,  which  are  much  smaller  than  our  own 
leading  churches,  had  thirty  or  forty  dead. 

The  Stricken  Children  of  France 

Child  life  in  France  has  suffered  beyond  measure  during 
the  past  five  years.  War  conditions  have  robbed  the  children 


of  necessary  food,  clothing,  schooling,  housing,  medical  atten¬ 
tion  and  parental  love  and  care,  with  the  awful  result  that 
children  have  died  by  thousands.  A  report  made  by  the 
Surgeon  General  of  the  Bordeaux  district  shows  the  increasing 
mortality  among  very  young  children  as  the  war  continued: 
1914,  25  per  cent.;  1915,  35  per  cent.;  1916,  66  per  cent.;  1917, 
81  per  cent.  The  slaughter  of  the  innocents  was  more  alarming 
than  the  slaughter  of  the  soldiers.  Thousands  who  survived 
are  left  with  stunted  bodies  and  impoverished  vitality.  These 
conditions  must  be  improved  at  once  if  France  is  to  regain  her 
population  and  recover  her  former  strength. 

Devastation 

Throughout  the  invaded  areas  refugees  are  returning  to 
their  destroyed  homes.  They  need  food,  clothing,  tools  and 
furniture.  Their  pastors  have  in  many  cases  not  received 
salaries  for  years.  But  the  most  awful  devastation  perhaps  is 
in  the  soul  life  of  the  sufferers.  Faith,  hope  and  love  have 
received  shattering  blows.  Our  wish  is  to  restore  these  while 
rebuilding  wrecked  shops,  schools,  homes  and  churches.  Dis¬ 
organized  church  life  must  be  renewed  if  spiritual  leadership 
is  to  keep  pace  with  material  reconstruction. 

How  to  Pay  Our  Debt 

“It  is  a  vital  necessity,”  says  Chaplain  Daniel  Couve,  of 
the  59th  Division  of  the  French  Army,  who  has  just  returned 
to  France  after  a  two  months’  stay  in  America,  “to  strengthen 
the  religious  forces  of  France  and  Belgium  at  this  critical  hour, 
lest  demoralization  and  despair  sweep  away  the  precious  fruits 
of  victory.  The  mothers  of  France  say  that  1,400,000  of  their 
sons  were  killed  in  the  war  while  only  70,000  Americans  gave 
their  lives,  but  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  70,000  Americans 
the  1,400,000  would  have  died  in  vain.  They  may  still  have 
died  in  vain  if  America  withholds  her  invaluable  aid  from 
France  in  these  difficult  reconstruction  days.” 

Our  soldiers  gave  without  stint  or  limit  to  make  victory 
secure.  We  have  caught  the  torch  from  their  falling  hands. 
Let  us  give  in  the  same  measure  to  restore  and  to  renew. 


$3,000,000  BUDGET  FOR  CHRISTIAN  RELIEF 


IN  FRANCE  AND  BELGIUM 

Committee  of  Brotherly  Aid . $1,350,000 

A  relief  organization  for  sufferers  in  the  invaded  areas.  Food  and  cloth¬ 
ing  is  supplied.,  houses  furnished,  renewed  family  life  made  possible. 

Restoration  of  Churches  and  Manses . $300,000 

Thirty-five  church  buildings  were  wholly  or  partially  destroyed  during 
the  war. 

Emergency  Relief  of  Pastors . $150,000 


Many  French  pastors  lost  their  homes  and  all  they  had  during  the  war. 
Others  are  sick  and  crippled.  War  prices  place  an  intolerable  burden  on 
them.  Their  impoverished  congregations  cannot  provide  sufficient  salaries  for 
them  during  the  emergency  conditions  of  reconstruction. 

The  Work  of  Foreign  Missions . $300,000 

There  are  50,000,000  inhabitants  in  the  French  colonies  to  whom  there 
is  no  other  door  of  approach  than  the  French  Foreign  Missions. 

Home  Missions . $300,000 

There  are  20,000,000  Frenchmen  not  vitally  connected  wTith  any  religious 
organization  to  whom  Protestantism  has  a  unique  opportunity  to  appeal 
through  the  Societe  Centrale  Evangelique. 

Asylums,  Orphanages  and  Re-education  Work  for 

Wounded  Soldiers . $200,000 

There  are  2,000,000  wounded  and  disabled  soldiers,  who  need  to  be  re¬ 
educated  so  as  to  be  made  self  supporting.  At  Nantes  a  Protestant  school 
is  engaged  in  this  work.  Courses  in  stenography ,  typewriting,  bookkeeping 
and  trades  of  various  kinds  should  be  developed. 

Anna  Hamilton  Hospital . $250,000 

This  is  the  only  school  but  one  of  scientific  nursing  in  France.  Nurses 
visit  homes  and  teach  parents  how  to  improve  conditions  and  how  properly 
and  scientifically  to  care  for  the  child.  These  trained  nurses  for  children 
should  be  sent  into  every  city,  town,  village  and  countryside  of  France. 


Educational  and  Social  Work,  Schools  in  Invaded 

Regions,  Seminaries  and  Sunday  Schools .  $200,000 

Scholarships  for  French  and  Belgian  Students  in 

American  Theological  Seminaries .  50,000 

Special  Support  for  Belgian  Churches .  100,000 

Total .  $3,200,000 


Funds  are  disbursed  by  two  committees,  representing  all  the  French  and 
Belgian  Protestant  Churches.  Dr.  Chauncey  Goodrich,  pastor  of  the  American 
Church  in  Paris,  and  Rev.  E.  W.  Bysshe,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  are  members. 

American  Campaign  Committee 

Director:  George  O.  Tamblyn  Advisor:  Charles  S.  Ward 

All  contributions  should  be  sent  to  Alfred  R.  Kimball,  Treasurer,  289 
Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


